More Gay-bashing, that's all. You think he's earned some respect, then you see him being automatically demoted to "fourth or fifth" string, in favor of two draftees who have yet to do anything in this league. I'd love to see Allen and Brown become dominant forces, but it has to happen first.

I think it comes down to being up against the salary cap and being pleased with the trio of young guys behind him like Lewis, Brown and Allen. Would not be surprised at all to see another vet come in to camp for insurance later.

Cardinals did the same damn thing to us with B Mac.... He sucked and they traded him back to us and he sucked some more.... Seriously guys two years ago he looked like the worst player in the NFL. I mean hell jordy nelson pointed his finger Right in Gays face multiple times on 3rd down in the Bowl then burned him on a route for a first. Yea he didnt look as awful last year but his year wasnt nowhere near good enough to warrant big or even middle of the line money... Hell i say be gone Gay-boy

More Gay-bashing, that's all. You think he's earned some respect, then you see him being automatically demoted to "fourth or fifth" string, in favor of two draftees who have yet to do anything in this league. I'd love to see Allen and Brown become dominant forces, but it has to happen first.

That's not what I was saying at all. Gay proved last year that he could be reasonably relied upon as a nickel back, or even a starter, if necessary. But if you actually take a realistic view of the scenario and the organization's trajectory, it's pretty clear that William Gay is not in their future plans, and as it stands now, the core of their secondary going into the future is Keenan Lewis, Curtis Brown, and Cortez Allen, and they expect them to contribute sooner than later. Lewis has already been playing the outside corner spot in nickel packages, so chances are, he will be the full-time starter to begin the season. Gay might start the season as the nickel back, but I do believe that the organization desires to have Brown and/or Allen in the regular rotation as the season progresses. The reality is that with Carnell Lake, the Steelers are shifting to more man schemes, which is reflected in their more recent draft picks, while Gay's strength is more in the elaborate zone schemes.

In truth, what I would love to see happen would be to move Gay to safety. He could be the primary backup and play in certain nickel and dime situations, with the flexibility to play corner as well, and he, being 5 years younger than Ryan Clark, could be the immediate successor to the FS position and be a stopgap there before finding a more long-term solution.

I didn't say that Lake called the defensive schemes, but if you think he has not influenced them, then you're fooling yourself. Maybe you should track down some of the interviews that he's given since he's been signed where he talks about teaching the corners to play on the man more and more aggressively, which in turn influenced LeBeau's comfort level with scheming more man coverages, believing that they can now execute it.

I didn't say that Lake called the defensive schemes, but if you think he has not influenced them, then you're fooling yourself. Maybe you should track down some of the interviews that he's given since he's been signed where he talks about teaching the corners to play on the man more and more aggressively, which in turn influenced LeBeau's comfort level with scheming more man coverages, believing that they can now execute it.

remember...

its your job to produce the evidence and back up your claim.

otherwise its not even worthy of consideration. gee i wonder who said THAT?

Lake: "Because we didn't have off-season workouts or training and coaching sessions with the guys, I couldn't do anything but watch film. I watched a lot of film. I figured out that we could do certain things better. Some things they were already doing well. I wanted to find people to put on the field that would be more aggressive. Sometimes if you are too aggressive you get burned. But I figured that if I could teach them the correctly and make the correct changes we would have some success. Hopefully it is paying off. I think so."

Quote:

"Part of it is in response to the first question. It was just teaching him to be a little more aggressive. It's one thing to say 'you need to be more aggressive,' but how do you do that? We've been working on those things to get him in a position where he can make plays. He's not a big guy, but he can play aggressively and still use his size to help him make plays. So far it's working.

A big part of coaching a cornerback is giving them confidence in themselves that they can play. I was a strong safety my first six years under Bill Cowher. Ron Woodson went down, and I figured that they were going to put the other corner in, right? No.

Coach LeBeau said 'Carnell, you're in.' 'What? I've never played corner in my life. What are you talking about?'

That first game was against the Cincinnati Bengals, and they had an all-Pro receiver, Carl Pickens, on that team. Carl was running me up and down that field. I was sitting on the bench after the second quarter thinking 'I can't do this. What were they thinking about?' Bill Cowher came up to me and said 'Carnell, you have to have a short memory. Whatever you did in the past doesn't matter. Go out there and do something the next play.'

And you know what? Just that little statement let me say 'It's true—it can't get any worse than it is right now.' So that's what I've tried to pass on to Will."

To be continued...

Boy, that was tough! He also mentions how, unlike most position coaches, he got to put in his two cents when it came time to draft. It's rather obvious that Carnell Lake has had a significant impact on the secondary, not simply in the quality of play, or the style of play, but who's playing. He also talks about in that link how Keenan Lewis went up to him and asked him to help him out, and Lake questioned others in the organization why he wasn't playing. He took him under his wing and made sure he put him in a position to prove himself, and he did, in part, thanks to Lake. LeBeau calls more man schemes now because he CAN call more now, and he CAN more now because of Lake's impact, or what a lot of Steelers writers have already called the Lake Effect.

Quote:

Lake worked with Gay, his teammates say, to study his tendencies and preferences. Gay wanted to be up on the line, handling receivers physically. the Steelers’ previous defensive backs coach, Ray Horton, now the defensive coordinator in Arizona, wanted Gay to stay back, as with all his corners. Lake cut him loose.

“I’m just playin’ my game, man,” Gay said.

LeBeau and the Steelers’ players praise Horton for his technique teaching, but they sound like they love Lake for adding that physical element. we saw it with Taylor, too, last week in chipping at Welker.

“Ray Horton was a great coach,” LeBeau said. “The reason we wanted to get Carnell was that I had personal experience with him here and knew he was a man of great character. I also knew he was an aggressive player and that he’d be an aggressive coach. I knew what he’d be asking our guys to do.”

Nowhere in that dialog does it say anything about playing more "man coverage". To play more aggressively doesnt mean it has to be man coverage. It just means playing tighter to the man in your zone.

Watch the games, break down the defense and you will see a lot of zone predominantly. Just because a CB runs with a WR vertically it doesnt mean its man. It means the CB has responsibility for the deep 1/3 of the field. If the WR runs across the middle, he gets passed off to the LB in coverage.

You are confusing playing more aggressively with playing more man coverage.